


peach flavored kisses

by sunshinesakae



Series: yuzukuma to pride [1]
Category: SKE48
Genre: F/F, truly just building this tag with my bare hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 23:45:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17032206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshinesakae/pseuds/sunshinesakae
Summary: four times yuzuki buys peach soda and one time she doesn't have to





	peach flavored kisses

**Author's Note:**

> can be seen as connected to 'soft serve ice cream' (which is a yuzukuma date ficlet series for those of you not in the know) but i felt like i had to post this one separately because 1) it's so h*cking long and 2) i thought this title was too cute to switch it to follow the "something something date" format of the 'soft serve ice cream series' ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> inspired by this image: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DtLa0JIU0AAxjMu.jpg and yeah i know they're drinking juice in this one but peach soda is cuter whoop

“I’m going to the vending machine,” Yuzuki announces, getting up and dusting off her skirt. “Do you want anything?”

Haruka places a hand on her chin and hums in contemplation. “Yeah,” she starts, immediately brightening up as she figures out what she wants. “Can you get me a peach soda?”

Yuzuki snorts. “I don’t know why you ever bother thinking about what you want to get when you always end up getting the same thing anyways.” But still, Yuzuki heads off down the hallway to the vending machine before Haruka could finish digging through her school bag for the necessary change to pay for the soda.

Yuzuki’s steps echoes in the empty hallway as she walks to the vending machine, leisurely stretching and trying to hold back a yawn. She looks out the window and takes note of the setting sun, streams of golden sunshine lighting up the hallway. It’s almost exam season and Yuzuki and Haruka had decided to stay back after class, holing up in the empty library to study, but it looks like they’ve stayed for longer than she thought.

Once she reached the vending machine Yuzuki leans her whole body forward against the machine, resting her face against the cool glass instead of immediately buying the drinks. It’s been a long day, Yuzuki mulls as she loosens her school tie. Luckily, basketball season had already ended and practice had been cancelled in the wake of exams season. Yuzuki had never been the greatest at academics but according to her watch, she had spent the past three hours studying her butt off for the upcoming trigonometry exam. She moans and presses her face even harder against the vending machine. Just thinking about that is starting to give her a headache. And yet—Yuzuki smiles to herself as the image of Haruka’s cute, concentrated face filled her mind—it hadn’t been all that bad.

It’s amazing how Haruka’s presence always manages to soothe her. Despite her loud and boisterous demeanor, Yuzuki had always been a bit more on the pessimistic side, finding herself mulling over worst case scenarios (like failing her exams and not being allowed to be on the basketball team anymore) whenever she’s left to her own devices for too long. But _Haruka_ —Haruka is amazing, Yuzuki sighs almost dreamily to herself. Haruka seems to be an endless reservoir of optimism, and always manages to drag Yuzuki away from her negative thoughts with well-timed, poorly told jokes or a funny facial expression. It’s like Haruka _knows_ whenever Yuzuki is slowly digging herself into a hole of negativity and pessimism. But even if she didn’t do any of this extra stuff to cheer her up, Yuzuki feels as if just her presence alone would’ve been enough to soothe her.

But then Yuzuki catches herself before she starts heading down that road again, shaking her head almost violently to clear her mind of those thoughts. Haruka is her friend! And she has enough on her plate without having to politely navigate around Yuzuki’s huge crush for her. Yuzuki thumps her head against the vending machine in finality before finally pushing herself off of it. She came here to buy drinks, not to wallow in misery over pining over one of her best friends.

“What took you so long?” Haruka asks, eyebrows lightly furrowed in concern when Yuzuki finally returns with their drinks.

“Just needed to take a break,” Yuzuki replies, brushing off Haruka’s concern. Noticing that Haruka still doesn’t look fully appeased, Yuzuki decides to diffuse the tension by pressing the cold can of peach soda against the other girl’s cheek, making Haruka yelp out in surprise. Yuzuki mockingly shushes her with a glare when the librarian glances over to their table, and snickers as Haruka swats her arm in retaliation. But still, Haruka thanks her with a grateful grin that was so blinding that Yuzuki had to look away, distracting herself with opening her bottle of green tea.

Haruka opens her can of peach soda, and immediately brightens up at the first sip. She lets out a content little hum that makes Yuzuki hide a smile behind her bottle of green tea. “I still don’t know why you always get peach soda. Don’t you ever want something else?”

“Nope,” Haruka answers succinctly, grinning over at Yuzuki. “Peach soda is too good! I’ll never get sick of it,” Haruka declares before taking another sip of her peach soda. Yuzuki still doesn’t get it, but it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters when Haruka has that smile on her face.

.

“Hey Kuma-“ Yuzuki starts before abruptly cutting off when she noticed that Haruka had fallen asleep, mouth open and drool seeping through the pages of the textbook she’s laying her head in. But still, Yuzuki can’t help the mumbled “cute” and fond chuckle that escape from her lips at the sight. And in Yuzuki’s defense, it is cute! Haruka’s hand is clenched into a loose fist and her expression is more peaceful than Yuzuki had seen it in weeks. Even though she’s really good at hiding it, Yuzuki can tell that Haruka has been stressed recently from exams and it’s relieving to see Haruka without all the tension that she’s restraining within herself. But still, Yuzuki knows that this will all disappear once Haruka wakes up, so she decides to something that would cheer the other girl. After all, Yuzuki owes her after all the times Haruka had managed to cheer her up out of her rut. And so, she heads off to buy some peach soda.

It’s a lot colder than the last time she and Haruka had pulled a huge study session like this, with it being winter time now. And while Yuzuki doesn’t mind the winter, it does mean that the majority of the drinks in the vending machine had been swapped out for warm drinks like coffees and teas, and that means no peach soda. But luckily, there’s a convenience store right outside of the school gates that keeps the same selection of beverages all year round, and while Yuzuki would rather not have to brave the cold at the moment—she looks down at Haruka’s sleeping face and the dark rings outlining her eyes—she had long ago resigned to the fact that she’s willing to do a lot of things she didn’t want to for Haruka. And so, she puts on her winter coat and writes Haruka a short message on a post-it that she then proceeds to stick onto the other girl’s forehead telling her that she’ll be back shortly, in the case that Haruka wakes up before Yuzuki gets back.

The bell connected to the door of the convenience store tinkles when Yuzuki enters, and she’s immediately hit with a wave of warmth that’s a relief to her semi-frozen body. “Good afternoon,” the store clerk, a middle aged woman, greets her.

“Good afternoon!” Yuzuki calls back as she heads to the fridges at the back of the store. Luckily, the store still carried Haruka’s favorite brand of peach soda, and Yuzuki snatches it up before heading over to the tiny glass display case of warm drinks that they keep at the counter to get herself a honey citrus tea. Yuzuki doesn’t know why Haruka even has a favorite brand of peach soda. It all tastes the same to her. She had made the mistake of voicing that opinion to the other girl, leading to an hour long lecture on the nuances of flavor each brand has. (It honestly wasn’t that bad of an experience after Yuzuki had zoned out on what Haruka was saying and focused more on how cute she looked when she’s upset about something.)

“A bit cold for soda at the moment, isn’t it?” the cashier says conversationally.

“Ah, yeah,” Yuzuki replies back, rummaging through her wallet to pull out the exact change. “It’s for a friend. I don’t really get it either but she’s kind of addicted to this stuff, so,” Yuzuki trails off with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Well, your friend is lucky to have you,” the older woman smiles, making Yuzuki snap her head up, a blush unconsciously forming on her cheeks.

“I-I'm sorry?” is all Yuzuki manages to get out, brushing down her bangs in a flustered motion. Hopefully the cashier will think the blush on her cheek is because of the cold.

“I said your friend is very lucky to have someone to walk all the way out here in the middle of winter to buy her a soda,” the cashier repeats.

“Well, she’s done a lot for me as well,” Yuzuki answers.

“I’m sure she has,” the older woman replies, but there’s something in the twinkle of her eyes that makes Yuzuki think that there’s a deeper meaning to what she’s saying. “Would you like a bag?” she then asks, and the conversation immediately takes on a lighter tone again, making Yuzuki relax her shoulders which she unknowingly tensed up.

“No thank you,” Yuzuki replies politely. “I’ll just carry them in my pockets. It’s not too big of a deal. Have a nice day,” she calls out as she heads out of the store.

“You too!” the cashier waves back before the door closes.

“Where were you?” Haruka asks when Yuzuki came back all wrapped up in her padded jacket. Haruka’s still blearily rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and there’s a tissue placed on top of the textbook she was using as a pillow, no doubt to soak up the drool that had accumulated there. Yuzuki replies by pulling the peach soda from the depths of her pocket and pressing the cold can against Haruka’s warm cheek, making the girl fall out of her chair from the sudden attack. “Why did you do that?” Haruka whines from the floor as Yuzuki is keeling over, a hand over her mouth to keep herself from bursting out into laughter and getting them kicked out of the library. But then, Haruka notices what it was and then—”Peach soda!” she exclaims, her voice echoing throughout the quiet library and bringing everyone’s attention to them.

“This is all your fault,” Yuzuki deadpans as they carry all of their stuff out of the library after getting kicked out by the librarian.

“Sorry, sorry,” Haruka replies sounding not at all apologetic as she happily sips on her peach soda. But Yuzuki can’t find it in herself to get mad at the other girl after seeing the content smile on Haruka’s face as she takes another sip of the soda. She really does drink that stuff too much, Yuzuki thinks. It makes her wonder if maybe Haruka would taste of the sweet peach flavor if they ever were to ki—Yuzuki shakes her head violently. Haruka looks over to her curiously.

“Come on,” Yuzuki starts, brushing off the other girl’s concern. “Let’s go find an empty classroom to study in since you got us kicked out of the library,” she says, dragging Haruka off down the hall by the scruff of her neck.

.

Yuzuki contemplatively stares at the vending machine, playing with the coins in her hand as she decides which drink she wants to get. She thinks that she might want a melon soda and reaches out to press the button for that option, but hesitates when she notices the option for peach soda next to it. And before she knows it, the coins in her hand had disappeared into the vending machine and the can of peach soda had dropped into the exiting slot. God, Yuzuki thinks as she thumps her head against the vending machine, this stupid crush is really getting to her.

Yuzuki sighs as she picks up the can of peach soda and scrutinizes it. She cracks open the can and immediately, the scent of artificial peach flavoring is released into the air. It’s good, Yuzuki admits after the first sip, letting the peach flavor spread throughout her mouth and the carbonation prickle at her tongue. It’s not Haruka’s favorite brand that she spent an hour ranting to Yuzuki about in the middle of the aisle in a grocery store, but it’s good nonetheless. But still, Yuzuki can’t imagine seeing herself being so addicted that she’d drink it almost everyday. Oh well, Yuzuki shrugs as she heads off down the hall, to each their own.

.

Yuzuki walks slowly down the hall, in a daze at what had just happened. It was a boy, as all problems seem to start off with. A boy from another class had shyly walked up to Haruka’s desk during their break and confessed to her, leading to all of their classmates who had remained in the classroom to gasp and whisper amongst themselves. Yuzuki doesn’t know what Haruka’s reply was, as she had led the boy to a quieter place to discuss in private, but it doesn’t matter. The confession itself had been a shock to Yuzuki’s system.

Yuzuki honestly didn’t know how long she expected their relationship to last the way it is. She knew there was absolutely no chance for her to ever be with Haruka, at least in the romantic sense. But for some reason, Yuzuki still can’t help but think of Haruka as _hers_ —always by her side to cheer her up, to go out to try the newest cafes, to study with, to just _be_ with. But there had always been a time limit on how long that would last. After all, Haruka had always been pretty likeable, and Yuzuki should have expected that sooner or later, she won’t always be there for Yuzuki anymore. Yuzuki just never expected to become a possibility so soon, she guesses.

She ends up in front of the vending machine before she realized it. And before she can stop herself, the pockets of her school skirt are 150 yen lighter and she has a can of peach soda in her hand. She sighs to herself, leaning back against the wall of the empty hallway, before cracking open the soda can. The first sip prickles at the inside of her mouth, almost searing with how strong the carbonation with. Yuzuki closes her eyes, and wonder if Haruka’s kisses would taste anything like the cloying sweetness of the peach flavoring coating her tongue.

“Hey, is that peach soda?” Haruka’s voice rings out throughout the empty hallway, jolting Yuzuki out of her thoughts. “I told you you’d get addicted to it,” Haruka says, a smug grin on her face, as she walks up to Yuzuki and takes a swig of Yuzuki’s soda.

“Kuma?” Yuzuki asks, still not fully grasping the situation yet. “What are you doing here? What happened to that boy?”

“I turned him down,” Haruka shrugs, not bothering to pretend that she isn’t straight up stealing Yuzuki’s soda as she continues to drink it. “He’s on the tennis team like me, so we see each other at practice sometimes but it’s not like we talked much. I really don’t know why he likes me.”

“Hmm,” is all Yuzuki can get out. Poor guy, she thinks, but at the same time, she can’t help the relief that courses through her body. “Gimme that,” Yuzuki says, grabbing the soda can out of Haruka’s hands, prompting an indignant whine out of the other girl. “It’s my soda,” she retorts, gulping the rest of the soda down while running down the hall as Haruka chases after her.

.

Haruka lifts the can to her lips, and almost sighs as the unique sweetness of the peach soda fills her mouth. She’ll never get sick of peach soda. But then Yuzuki reaches out a hand, and pulls the soda can away from her mouth, making Haruka look at her curiously. Before Haruka could question her however, Yuzuki leans forwards and gently slots her lips against Haruka’s. It’s a deeper kiss than the usual pecks they exchange, with Yuzuki’s tongue swiping along Haruka’s bottom lip, wordlessly seeking for entrance, and it makes Haruka's heart beat even faster than it always does whenever they kiss.

“What was that for?” Haruka breathlessly asks once they pull away, soda can forgotten in her hand.

Yuzuki’s only response was to drop her head onto Haruka’s shoulder. Haruka’s not sure if it’s out of embarrassment or something else, but she places her free hand on the other girl’s back, gently patting it in a rhythmic motion. From her experience, it’s typically better to let Yuzuki express herself at her own pace rather than to force her, and sure enough, Haruka’s patience is rewarded.

“Before I confessed to you, I was so sure I’d never have a chance with you. And it was so lonely,” Yuzuki eventually confesses, voice muffled by the fabric of Haruka’s shirt. Haruka looks down at her in concern, the rhythmic patting faltering momentarily before starting back up. “It was eating me up,” Yuzuki continues, after a few beats of silence. “And on the days when it got too much, I’d drink peach soda because I thought that was what being with you would be like. Tasting the peach in your kisses, smelling it whenever we laid on the couch together,” Yuzuki trails off with a shrug.

“And _is_ dating me like peach soda?” Haruka asks quietly, hand moving up to gently stroke Yuzuki’s hair.

“Of course not,” Yuzuki retorts with a watery laugh as she pulls away from Haruka’s shoulder. “It’s so much more,” and while Yuzuki usually never talks too much about how she feels, never puts much weight into spoken sentiment, it’s in the way that Yuzuki breathes out those words, the way Yuzuki’s eyes twinkle as she looks at her that makes Haruka truly understand how loved she is.

“Well, looks like you don’t have to drink peach soda anymore” Haruka starts, tucking a stray strand of hair behind Yuzuki’s ear before cradling the other girl's cheek in her palm. “Because you have me. All of me,” Haruka breathes out, before sealing the promise with a kiss.


End file.
